Man fined Rs 38 lakh for speeding

Getting a speeding ticket is not a feel good moment for anyone. Imagine shelling out a speeding penalty which is linked to your income - the higher you earn, the higher you pay for breaking the law. Well, this isn’t the case in India as of now. But, such an interesting policy does exist in Finland.

So when Reima Kuisla, a Finnish businessman,  was caught speeding at 103kmph in an area where the speed limit is 80kmph, he was handed over a speeding ticket worth a whopping Rs 54,000 euros which is equivalent to Rs 38.4 lakh.

The Finnish ‘day fine’ system dates back to the 1920s. The fines, here, are based on half of the offender’s daily net income, with some consideration for the number of children living under his or her roof and a deduction deemed to be enough to cover the offender’s basic living expenses.

It was assessed that Kuisla should lose eight days of pay and his fine was allegedly calculated by the authorities who checked his 2013 tax returns. His earnings on those tax returns reportedly indicated that Kuisla made Rs $7.2 million in 2013 which is Rs 45.7 crore, and hence the fine.

The scale of the fine did not go down well with Kuisla who took to social media to express his opinion over this incidence.  However, he is not the only person to have been charged with a hefty sum for speeding in Finland. Reports suggest that back in 2002, a telecom bigwig paid a whopping Rs 80 lakh fine for speeding on his Harley in the country.